February 2, 2026 • 25 mins
Rohit Gupta provides his vision to the Aretum in meeting our customer’s missions through the use of digital transformation and emerging technologies. He has a strong belief in, and works towards building, an Aretum company culture where we value and respect our employees, and help them succeed in delivering for our customers. Rohit believes in building strong leaders that have similarly aligned visions as part of the Aretum leadership team.
Having been a systems architect for many large commercial and government programs, Rohit is a recognized expert in the fields of scalable systems, large web application design and development, mobile development, AI and machine learning, and CIO operations. Throughout his career, Rohit has worked with numerous government and commercial IT clients, consulting with some of the biggest names in the world — AT&T, Federal Express, Capital One, PerotSystems/TRC, and Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Rohit graduated from the University of Mumbai with a B.E. in Computer Engineering and received an M.S. in Computer Science at the University of Connecticut. Rohit is passionate about using technology to build efficient and elegant solutions for business and social challenges.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you should know riven By,
Western Transportation Group and iHeart Media.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's meet Roha Gupta.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
He is the CEO for Artam, a government based contractor
providing technology and professional services specializing in data analytics, cybersecurity, engineering,
IT and mission support for US federal agencies, helping clients
with digital transformation, cloud solutions, logistics and training to achieve
critical national security and civilian objectives. Before we talk more
about Rod's incredible company, I first asked him to talk
(00:30):
a little bit about himself, where he's from and his
origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
I grew up in Bombay, India.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's called Mumbai now, at a fairly normal middle class
upbringing in the city. My dad traveled a lot for
work since he worked for an airline, so you know,
it actually brought a decent amount of travel.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
For me and my family.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So you know, we were exposed to many you know,
and we traveled with him to many countries in Asia
and Europe.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And in North America too growing up.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So I decided to pursue a degree in computer engineering
at University of Bombay. After I completed that a lot
of people were coming to the US to study so
I decided to come to the US this is about
thirty six years ago to study for my masters in
computer science at the University of Connecticut. When I was
there at the University of Connecticut, I you know, I
(01:20):
had to do a master's thesis and one of the
things I was really interested in was object oriented databases,
which were very popular at the time in.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
The early nineties.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Actually got funded by the National Institute of Health human
Genome projects, So I don't know if you remember that,
but it was like an eight to ten year project
where they mapped the entire human genome. And yeah, so
that was actually part of my master's thesis on how
to bring together disparate data that's part of the human
(01:52):
genome mapping piece, as well as all the research papers
and write ups and everything else that went along with it.
And you know, that's kind of what I did as
my master seeses for my masters. And then once I graduated,
I started at a startup company in Columbus, Ohio, where
we did the software development workflow software for companies. So
(02:14):
that's kind of in a nutshell, like I would say,
that's the origin story outstanding.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, I appreciate all that rough it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I know this is not going to surprise you,
but we I get the pleasure of talking to people
like you that have come from other countries and started
their own business or joining great companies and then done
wonderful things with themselves. So it's a thrill to talk
to somebody who's had all those life experience and traveled
all over the world.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think that sets it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
You know, something that we can talk about later in
the conversation with leadership when it comes up with change.
You know, when you're moving around a lot, you know,
and you have to run a company, there's always change
out there.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So we'll talk about that in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I would love to ask about before we start
talking about joining artem and why you did that about
you know, you mentioned coming out of school, and I
know that technology over the thirty six years that you've
been in America now, I mean has changed dramatic. I mean,
you know, we're talking about cell phones and internet and
social media, and then in your line of business and
now that AI is here. I don't know if you
(03:07):
saw the changes coming, but it really is amazing over
the last two to three decades, how much has everything changed,
especially in yours.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Can you kind of elaborate on that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
When I graduated, we I don't think we had internet
in the in the first company I worked at, and
in fact, I was the one responsible for bringing internet.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
To that exact right, So that's great.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, I remember calling the telecom company and asking for
an ISDN line and a T one line and all
these things into the company. And you know, at that
point we use email internally, but we didn't really send
a whole lot of emails outside. So yeah, that was
like basically the beginning in the early nineties of the
Internet age. Obviously, you know what happened after that with
(03:48):
the World Wide Web and proliferation of Web two, dot
zero and things beyond that. I mean, it's it's obviously
the landscape has changed so much. And then the last
three or four years with introduction of AIAH, you know,
I feel like we're at, you know, a new industrial
revolution essentially, right, and I think we're still at the
starting point of that. Like I think we're telling the
(04:10):
first ten percent of the AI revolution, if you will.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, I think a lot of your contemporaries would agree
with you. Were kind of in those first phase of
the baby steps of AI and what it's going to do.
Because the ry are some amazing thing. It's kind of
a toy for a lot of people, but I know
you're going to be doing some amazing things with them.
I would love to ask you about the origin story
about joining Artem. You know, it's an incredible company and
there is a story behind that. So how did you
and the company come together.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
That's a great question. It's sort of a two part answer.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I personally, when I working in consulting for a
few years with a couple of the startup I joined
Pero Systems, I worked with them for a few years,
and then I started my own company called Artemis.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Consulting in nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And what we did is we did high end software development,
application architecture, and development work. And we actually started on
the commercial side, so we you know, we did work
in IT systems, modelganization, app development, user experience, accessibility, and
so on. So I actually got to work on architecting
a large foreign exchange trading system that eventually when it
(05:10):
went live, we were trading over a trillion dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
My goodness, foreign exchange.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah, it was it was.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It was something and so you know, that was that
was that was actually work I did in Ireland as
part of a consulting project. And then we worked with
some other large organizations like Price Worouse Coopers, one of
the big four accounting firms. We did global architecture for them,
software development for their tax and audit practice. Eventually we
switched to working with large government contractors as subcontractors like
(05:41):
SAIC and CSEI, which are you know, big names in
the industry, and then we finally got our first prime
contract and we started working with federal agencies like the
Library of Congress, US Senate House of Representatives doing it
and software development work and so that was out of misconsulting.
So after about twenty four years of that company, we
(06:02):
sold the company to a new private equity platform put
together by a PE firm called Renova's Capital, and that's
what was called ARTAM.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I was asked to stay on for a few years
and I did, but.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
After a year in being a senior vice president, I
became the CEO of ARDAM and you know, the board
asked me to take over the CEO because there was
a vacancy. I decided at that point I wanted to
do the CEO. It's built on my previous experience. We're
working with the government agencies and I could use my
skills on a much larger scale do the same kind
(06:33):
of mission work across the federal government and even more agencies.
So that's kind of how I ended up being the
CEO of ARDAM.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I'd love to ask you something because you bring up
this this partnership and selling the company and then being
a part of the new one. You're in a role
where a lot of people have really put their blood,
sweat and tears, and you did it for over two
plus decades, selling your company to private equity and then
being a part of it. And I've seen enough move
(07:00):
and I've read enough stories that there have been to
some horror shows that when you sell your company and
whether you're still a part of it or not, you
know it could go sideways, but you've joined it. And
I'd love to hear about your experience because I know
your journey is specific to you and what you did
selling your company, and you know a very personal thing
of having a company for twenty four years, selling it
(07:20):
and then being a part of it. What was it
like that you made the decision to sell it and
then deciding I don't know if they asked you to
be part of it or you insisted on being part
of it. You can share that or not. But what
was that whole ordeal like, because I'd love to hear
about that, because we've heard about the good, the bad,
and the ugly. How was the experience?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
The experience was good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
So we actually originally had not planned to sell, but
we were approached by senior executive at a private equity
firm and you know, we got talking and he was
interested and that's why it came about. So the experience
was fairly good. I mean, it took a little bit
longer than I expected. It took about six months, but
(07:59):
we were able to get to a good point. They
asked me to stay on for a couple of years
to actually help the transition. It ended up being, you know,
about a year in the CEO of the company, Ardom
left to to go into another to another company at
a space engineering company. So so that's when I stepped
(08:22):
into the CEO role. And obviously it was it's something
I had done similar to what I'd done before on
a larger scale, and so so I think the board
felt like I could do it, and they asked me
to join.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
But yet something you weren't expecting. I guess because it
sounds like you were there to stick it soul.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
For a while. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I was there for a two year transition period and
then I stepped into the role about a year in.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Life is full of surprises, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
And tell we tell people that all the time that
you're opening one door and then going through another lane.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's incredible. Well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I'd love to talk about mission and vision because I know,
especially when you're into street, when you're working with clients
and your large staff that we're going to talk about
in just a minute, rud it's so important. Can you
talk about mission and vision of art and for us?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yes, So Artim's mission is very clear, like and you know,
we spend a lot of time coming up with our
mission statement. So our mission statement basically says, we deliver
exceptional customer centric services and solutions, and we contribute to
the nation's security as well as growth, and we empower
our federal customers to achieve their mission critical critical objectives.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
In addition, we.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Elevate our own people by fostering innovation, engagement and excellence.
So we hold our people to a high standard, we
encourage them to be innovative and so so it's all about,
you know, the customer, but also our own people and
making sure that those two things come together in our mission.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So while there's a lot of our listeners roy that
are very familiar with your company, there's also a lot
that aren't. And if you were to meet all these
people and give maybe a thirty thousand foot view and
say this is what Artem actually does, what would you
tell them?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, that's a good question that basically my elevator pitch.
So Artem operates in across four core capability areas. Number
one is digital transformation, Number two is cybersecurity, number three
is data intelligence, and the fourth dis mission support. So
I just want to dig a little bit deeper on that.
(10:28):
So for digital transformation, you know, we are helping federal
agencies modernize, manage the IT systems, cloud services, enterprise IT support,
engineering services, and so on. On the data intelligence side,
we basically take you know, health agencies turn large amounts
of data into actionable insights using data analytics, data governance,
(10:51):
artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Tools. We do predictive modeling, we do visualization of data.
So there's a lot there that we do.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
On the cybersecurity side, we provide services to protect government
networks and systems from threats, ensure secure operations. Across missions,
we work on things like zero trust architectures and so on.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
And on the mission.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Support side, which is also a big part of our business,
we do mission readiness, We do project management, program management,
we help with managing financial systems, do training, and then
broader consulting support that's tailored to that agency's needs.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Finally, i'd say, like we have about eighty eighty active
contracts across the Department of War, Homeland Security and about
ten civilian federal agencies.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Very good, Well, Royd, I don't want to make any assumptions,
but I imagine you're in a very competitive field. Now,
with that said, there's always another company out that Sarah,
you know, we got better customer service, we can do
this better. So as you either pitch yourself to the
agencies or they come to you and say, Wrought, we'd
love to work with people, but you need to sell
me on it, how do you differentiate yourself from said competition?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, you're absolutely right that the mid tier government contracting
space is very crowded. We have built differentiators, so you know,
I can think of maybe three or four. So first
number one, I would say we have an integrated broad
capability stack. So, like I mentioned earlier, we combine technology,
mission support, cyber digital transformation, data analytics, all of that
(12:30):
under one services platform rather than be narrowly focused. And
so that gives us breadth to serve multiple mission needs
under a single umbrella, which is valued by agencies that
want fewer vendors and more integrated outcomes. Number two, because
we're private equity backed, we believe in strategic growth through acquisitions,
(12:52):
and so that helps us, you know, acquire new capabilities
that we may not have that a customer might need.
So we you know, we merged with Meracle Systems. Automis
Consulting was acquired. We just required a company called Veterans
Engineering a couple of months ago. So that expands both
our capabilities as well as our customer reach. And so
(13:12):
you know, it brings its specialized expertise like agile development,
cloud modernization, and engineering, so it complements our core services,
but it also helps us compete with some of the
larger companies around the Beltway. The other thing we differentiate
ourselves in is we have a very strong prime contract presence.
(13:34):
So what I mean by that is we lead the
work on many of our contracts rather than being a
subcontractor to other companies. So obviously we do some subcontract work,
but we are the majority of our projects our prime contracts,
and so that position, that positioning kind of boosts our visibility.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It influences decisions better.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And we get direct relationships with our federal customers and
become trusted advisors to them. Like said, we have over
eighty active contracts over thirty federal agencies spread across the government,
so it's a diverse portfolios, miss cross mission insights, and
we can tailor our solutions more effectively than some niche
(14:14):
boutique kind of firms that focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
A smaller amount of things.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And you know, just to add, like, I'm a technologist
at heart, that's how I started. So I have a
very strong focus in emerging technologies advanced technology. So we
pushed in you know, we pushed into emerging tech areas
like AI, machine learning, natural language processing, and cybersecurity. Innovations
(14:41):
like zero trust architectures and dance analytics and all of that.
So you know, I would say having a teching like
me via the helm of the company actually helps forge the.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Path in emerging technologies, right.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah. And lastly I would say, like you know, we're
we're mid tier, so I would call us next both
nimble and capable. So like unlike the large competitors we have,
we can be more agile, more responsive.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
We have a culture of innovation. We have closer client collaboration.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So agencies that want sophisticated solutions but don't want the
overhead and complexity of dealing with like a lot of overhead,
they can you know, those agencies like working with.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Us very good.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Well, listen, I don't have an opportunity all the time
when I talk to CEOs or owners of companies or
entrepreneurs when they acquire a company and what that's like.
So if you indulge me just for a second for
a listening audience and with no specificity, you acquired a company,
and I'd love to know, what are the really exciting
things about acquiring a company, But what are the things
that are also challenges when you acquire a company to
(15:45):
add onto your portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So the way we look at acquiring companies is we
look at, you know, what are the capabilities obviously that
company brings, either in terms of new customers or new
you know, technology capable abilities added to ours, right so
when so that's how we go to market. We try
to figure out what is there that we can you know,
(16:08):
that helps us in that in that area.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
So we go through a process.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
There's obviously, as you've heard about, the due diligence process,
where you look at existing contracts a company might have
and which contracts are, you know, how profitable they are,
how how the customer views that company, and so like
sometimes we end up going and talking to the customer
itself and going through that due diligence process. And then
(16:36):
there's obviously legal due diligence. There's uh, you know, due
diligence on the HR side and and so on. So
it's it's a it's a it's a long and drawn
out process, but rightly so, because you don't want to
jump into something that doesn't make sense long term, and
you don't you don't ever want to have it regrets,
right so, so so that's uh so, yeah, the challenging
(16:57):
parts are Obviously, you need to start up with making
sure that you have cultures that align. If you have
cultures between an acquired company and an acquiring company that
are misaligned, then you're always going to have problems where
people are going to feel like they're not part of
the larger company. So it's very important to have cultures
(17:18):
that aligned, and it's very important to go out of
the gate with with really good thought out strategies for
that integration. You know, and integration is not just at
the system level where you're integrating your HR systems, your
I T systems, your you know, recruiting systems and all
of that, but it's also you know, how you manage people,
(17:40):
how you manage projects, and you know, making sure that
the new company's well feels welcome, the employees feel welcome,
and uh, you know there's no us versus them kind
of mentality.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Right right, Well, thank you for all that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And you know, Royan, we have joke in this series
that when you have a successful company, it's not always
unicorns and rainbows all the time. There are some challenges
in your industry and maybe specific to what you're feeling
at artem right now, are there any current challenges and
what are they.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
So federal contracting in general is highly competitive, it's constantly changing.
You know, companies like ours compete not only with other
mid tier companies, but we also you know, compete with
the large defense contractors, the large IT intgraders that have
significantly more scale than us. So you know, it's competitive,
and so you've got to differentiate, you've got to stand out.
(18:33):
And in twenty twenty five, as everybody knows, we faced
some cuts through dose and we had a six week
government shut down.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
There was that impacted many in the industry.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
So thankfully we as a company were resilient and we
survive these and I feel like we've come out stronger
than ever.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
But you know, it's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I think twenty twenty five was a wake up here,
but I think we've adapted really well and we're hoping
that twenty twenty six will be better for the industry
in general. And like many companies in federal contracting as
well as technology, like you're, retaining skilled employees is always
a challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Maintaining a stable.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Workforce is a challenge. So you know, we put a
lot of effort into that. Having skilled professionals, especially in
IT and cybersecurity, cloud work program management. They're in high
demand across the industry, not just in autumn, but like
just across the technology industry and other contracting companies. So
making hiring, good hiring decisions, making sure that you have
(19:36):
good retention, it's a challenge for government contractors in general.
And finally, balancing growth and operational excellence. Right, we were
going to continue to grow, or that is the plan.
Our values emphasise operation excellence and accountability. But you know,
when you have rapid growth and you have expansion through acquisition,
(19:59):
you need to make sure that you continue to deliver
those high quality outcomes and still maintain the internal alignment.
So that's a classic challenge when you fast growing government
tech service company.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
So you know, focusing on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Making sure we have good strong execution and internal discipline
while we're growing is important and so we got against
that constantly.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, very good, And I think this is a great
segue because you're starting to talk about it right now,
and we always love to talk in this series about leadership.
You have hundreds and hundreds of people that you oversee
on your staff, and I can imagine what that's like
for you because you've got people that are off site
and there's not a lot of people in front of you.
I don't know how much access they get to you,
but you can talk about that as well. But when
(20:44):
it comes to your mission, your vision, and execution, Listen,
everybody's adult and you hire the best of the best,
and we realize that, but people are people. How do
you get your leadership message to all those people to
make sure you're effective? They also have access to you,
and then you're running a really tight organization where you
have a happy employee, but they're also executing the way
you want them to.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I would say I focus on setting a strong vision
for our leadership team. I'm very clear about priorities and expectations.
But then I do give my leaders the autonomy and
support they need to execute on that vision. So I
believe in open communication. I believe in data driven decision making.
I hold myself accountable for results. I hold others accountable
(21:28):
for results, you know, and I expect them to do
the same with their director reports. Equally important, I invest
in developing people and mentoring them because I feel like
long term success comes from strong teams and smart people
working collaboratively.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Together.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's well said, and I appreciate that. If you don't mind,
I'd love to put a pin in work just for
a second and talk to you about philanthropic and charity work.
I know you're very busy, but when you have time,
whether it's through work or with your family at home,
what do you like to be part of.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, on a personal level, I'm a small part of
multiple local Virginia based community organizations that support an organization
that does community support for the homeless. I support organization
that does support of refugee populations globally. So yeah, it's
(22:20):
it's a lot of local company local organizations that I'm
part of, my wife is a part of with me.
As a company too, like we, you know, Artumn believes
in giving back, So we run an initiative called Champions
for Change that highlights and celebrates employees who.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Volunteer in their communities.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
We are in forty over forty states in terms of
our employees, so we celebrate those employees as they volunteer.
We we have a program during National Volunteer Month we
spot you know, we encourage team members to go out
and volunteer. We spotlight them like we work with the
Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. We've participated in Operation Gratitude,
(23:01):
which is care packages for service members and first responders,
and so we do a lot of local work at
the company level, and obviously I do that on a.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Personal level too.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
That's great, Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate that. Well, listen,
I want to get some final thoughts from you. Really
enjoyed the conversation. We're going to recap we talked about.
I'd love for you to get the website. I know
people listen to the series too, So if you're hiring
the best of the best, you can talk about that
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
But row it. You've got a couple of minutes. The
floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
If you're listening and your government executive or stakeholder and
you want to have a talk about your current mission
challenges or your technology challenges that you're facing, and you
could really use a trusted advisor that helps you, you know,
become more efficient and work with fewer resources. You know,
please contact us where we're at info at autum dot com.
(23:50):
And if you're a technologist or you're an analyst or
a project manager, I want to use your innovative skills
at a company that does government projects that make a difference.
You know, go to our website and apply to us,
and so we're always hiring. I think we have last
I looked about thirty seven open positions right now. So
Autumn dot com, Artum dot com, slash join dash us,
(24:14):
so autom dot com dot join us. If you go there,
you can see our open positions and definitely apply.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Standing Rod before I let you go, I always am
in this position to thank you and your team, and
you know, I know that you're not in a position
to talk to people like me or a regular folk
on the street to know what you do and what
you do with your clients, and there's a lot of
super secret things going on where we can sleep at
night as Americans.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So I just want to thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
While I don't have a lot of knowledge about specifically
what you do, I know that you take care of
us with your clients, and we're.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Very appreciative of that.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
So thank you for you and your team and all
that you do, and we really appreciate your valuable time,
and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Thank you, Dennis.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It was a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
This was great, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
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Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's meet Roha Gupta.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
He is the CEO for Artam, a government based contractor
providing technology and professional services specializing in data analytics, cybersecurity, engineering,
IT and mission support for US federal agencies, helping clients
with digital transformation, cloud solutions, logistics and training to achieve
critical national security and civilian objectives. Before we talk more
about Rod's incredible company, I first asked him to talk
(00:30):
a little bit about himself, where he's from and his
origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
I grew up in Bombay, India.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's called Mumbai now, at a fairly normal middle class
upbringing in the city. My dad traveled a lot for
work since he worked for an airline, so you know,
it actually brought a decent amount of travel.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
For me and my family.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So you know, we were exposed to many you know,
and we traveled with him to many countries in Asia
and Europe.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And in North America too growing up.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So I decided to pursue a degree in computer engineering
at University of Bombay. After I completed that a lot
of people were coming to the US to study so
I decided to come to the US this is about
thirty six years ago to study for my masters in
computer science at the University of Connecticut. When I was
there at the University of Connecticut, I you know, I
(01:20):
had to do a master's thesis and one of the
things I was really interested in was object oriented databases,
which were very popular at the time in.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
The early nineties.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Actually got funded by the National Institute of Health human
Genome projects, So I don't know if you remember that,
but it was like an eight to ten year project
where they mapped the entire human genome. And yeah, so
that was actually part of my master's thesis on how
to bring together disparate data that's part of the human
(01:52):
genome mapping piece, as well as all the research papers
and write ups and everything else that went along with it.
And you know, that's kind of what I did as
my master seeses for my masters. And then once I graduated,
I started at a startup company in Columbus, Ohio, where
we did the software development workflow software for companies. So
(02:14):
that's kind of in a nutshell, like I would say,
that's the origin story outstanding.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, I appreciate all that rough it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I know this is not going to surprise you,
but we I get the pleasure of talking to people
like you that have come from other countries and started
their own business or joining great companies and then done
wonderful things with themselves. So it's a thrill to talk
to somebody who's had all those life experience and traveled
all over the world.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think that sets it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
You know, something that we can talk about later in
the conversation with leadership when it comes up with change.
You know, when you're moving around a lot, you know,
and you have to run a company, there's always change
out there.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So we'll talk about that in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I would love to ask about before we start
talking about joining artem and why you did that about
you know, you mentioned coming out of school, and I
know that technology over the thirty six years that you've
been in America now, I mean has changed dramatic. I mean,
you know, we're talking about cell phones and internet and
social media, and then in your line of business and
now that AI is here. I don't know if you
(03:07):
saw the changes coming, but it really is amazing over
the last two to three decades, how much has everything changed,
especially in yours.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Can you kind of elaborate on that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
When I graduated, we I don't think we had internet
in the in the first company I worked at, and
in fact, I was the one responsible for bringing internet.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
To that exact right, So that's great.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, I remember calling the telecom company and asking for
an ISDN line and a T one line and all
these things into the company. And you know, at that
point we use email internally, but we didn't really send
a whole lot of emails outside. So yeah, that was
like basically the beginning in the early nineties of the
Internet age. Obviously, you know what happened after that with
(03:48):
the World Wide Web and proliferation of Web two, dot
zero and things beyond that. I mean, it's it's obviously
the landscape has changed so much. And then the last
three or four years with introduction of AIAH, you know,
I feel like we're at, you know, a new industrial
revolution essentially, right, and I think we're still at the
starting point of that. Like I think we're telling the
(04:10):
first ten percent of the AI revolution, if you will.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, I think a lot of your contemporaries would agree
with you. Were kind of in those first phase of
the baby steps of AI and what it's going to do.
Because the ry are some amazing thing. It's kind of
a toy for a lot of people, but I know
you're going to be doing some amazing things with them.
I would love to ask you about the origin story
about joining Artem. You know, it's an incredible company and
there is a story behind that. So how did you
and the company come together.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
That's a great question. It's sort of a two part answer.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I personally, when I working in consulting for a
few years with a couple of the startup I joined
Pero Systems, I worked with them for a few years,
and then I started my own company called Artemis.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Consulting in nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And what we did is we did high end software development,
application architecture, and development work. And we actually started on
the commercial side, so we you know, we did work
in IT systems, modelganization, app development, user experience, accessibility, and
so on. So I actually got to work on architecting
a large foreign exchange trading system that eventually when it
(05:10):
went live, we were trading over a trillion dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
My goodness, foreign exchange.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Yeah, it was it was.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It was something and so you know, that was that
was that was actually work I did in Ireland as
part of a consulting project. And then we worked with
some other large organizations like Price Worouse Coopers, one of
the big four accounting firms. We did global architecture for them,
software development for their tax and audit practice. Eventually we
switched to working with large government contractors as subcontractors like
(05:41):
SAIC and CSEI, which are you know, big names in
the industry, and then we finally got our first prime
contract and we started working with federal agencies like the
Library of Congress, US Senate House of Representatives doing it
and software development work and so that was out of misconsulting.
So after about twenty four years of that company, we
(06:02):
sold the company to a new private equity platform put
together by a PE firm called Renova's Capital, and that's
what was called ARTAM.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I was asked to stay on for a few years
and I did, but.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
After a year in being a senior vice president, I
became the CEO of ARDAM and you know, the board
asked me to take over the CEO because there was
a vacancy. I decided at that point I wanted to
do the CEO. It's built on my previous experience. We're
working with the government agencies and I could use my
skills on a much larger scale do the same kind
(06:33):
of mission work across the federal government and even more agencies.
So that's kind of how I ended up being the
CEO of ARDAM.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I'd love to ask you something because you bring up
this this partnership and selling the company and then being
a part of the new one. You're in a role
where a lot of people have really put their blood,
sweat and tears, and you did it for over two
plus decades, selling your company to private equity and then
being a part of it. And I've seen enough move
(07:00):
and I've read enough stories that there have been to
some horror shows that when you sell your company and
whether you're still a part of it or not, you
know it could go sideways, but you've joined it. And
I'd love to hear about your experience because I know
your journey is specific to you and what you did
selling your company, and you know a very personal thing
of having a company for twenty four years, selling it
(07:20):
and then being a part of it. What was it
like that you made the decision to sell it and
then deciding I don't know if they asked you to
be part of it or you insisted on being part
of it. You can share that or not. But what
was that whole ordeal like, because I'd love to hear
about that, because we've heard about the good, the bad,
and the ugly. How was the experience?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
The experience was good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
So we actually originally had not planned to sell, but
we were approached by senior executive at a private equity
firm and you know, we got talking and he was
interested and that's why it came about. So the experience
was fairly good. I mean, it took a little bit
longer than I expected. It took about six months, but
(07:59):
we were able to get to a good point. They
asked me to stay on for a couple of years
to actually help the transition. It ended up being, you know,
about a year in the CEO of the company, Ardom
left to to go into another to another company at
a space engineering company. So so that's when I stepped
(08:22):
into the CEO role. And obviously it was it's something
I had done similar to what I'd done before on
a larger scale, and so so I think the board
felt like I could do it, and they asked me
to join.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
But yet something you weren't expecting. I guess because it
sounds like you were there to stick it soul.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
For a while. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I was there for a two year transition period and
then I stepped into the role about a year in.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Life is full of surprises, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
And tell we tell people that all the time that
you're opening one door and then going through another lane.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's incredible. Well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I'd love to talk about mission and vision because I know,
especially when you're into street, when you're working with clients
and your large staff that we're going to talk about
in just a minute, rud it's so important. Can you
talk about mission and vision of art and for us?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yes, So Artim's mission is very clear, like and you know,
we spend a lot of time coming up with our
mission statement. So our mission statement basically says, we deliver
exceptional customer centric services and solutions, and we contribute to
the nation's security as well as growth, and we empower
our federal customers to achieve their mission critical critical objectives.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
In addition, we.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Elevate our own people by fostering innovation, engagement and excellence.
So we hold our people to a high standard, we
encourage them to be innovative and so so it's all about,
you know, the customer, but also our own people and
making sure that those two things come together in our mission.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So while there's a lot of our listeners roy that
are very familiar with your company, there's also a lot
that aren't. And if you were to meet all these
people and give maybe a thirty thousand foot view and
say this is what Artem actually does, what would you
tell them?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, that's a good question that basically my elevator pitch.
So Artem operates in across four core capability areas. Number
one is digital transformation, Number two is cybersecurity, number three
is data intelligence, and the fourth dis mission support. So
I just want to dig a little bit deeper on that.
(10:28):
So for digital transformation, you know, we are helping federal
agencies modernize, manage the IT systems, cloud services, enterprise IT support,
engineering services, and so on. On the data intelligence side,
we basically take you know, health agencies turn large amounts
of data into actionable insights using data analytics, data governance,
(10:51):
artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Tools. We do predictive modeling, we do visualization of data.
So there's a lot there that we do.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
On the cybersecurity side, we provide services to protect government
networks and systems from threats, ensure secure operations. Across missions,
we work on things like zero trust architectures and so on.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
And on the mission.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Support side, which is also a big part of our business,
we do mission readiness, We do project management, program management,
we help with managing financial systems, do training, and then
broader consulting support that's tailored to that agency's needs.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Finally, i'd say, like we have about eighty eighty active
contracts across the Department of War, Homeland Security and about
ten civilian federal agencies.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Very good, Well, Royd, I don't want to make any assumptions,
but I imagine you're in a very competitive field. Now,
with that said, there's always another company out that Sarah,
you know, we got better customer service, we can do
this better. So as you either pitch yourself to the
agencies or they come to you and say, Wrought, we'd
love to work with people, but you need to sell
me on it, how do you differentiate yourself from said competition?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, you're absolutely right that the mid tier government contracting
space is very crowded. We have built differentiators, so you know,
I can think of maybe three or four. So first
number one, I would say we have an integrated broad
capability stack. So, like I mentioned earlier, we combine technology,
mission support, cyber digital transformation, data analytics, all of that
(12:30):
under one services platform rather than be narrowly focused. And
so that gives us breadth to serve multiple mission needs
under a single umbrella, which is valued by agencies that
want fewer vendors and more integrated outcomes. Number two, because
we're private equity backed, we believe in strategic growth through acquisitions,
(12:52):
and so that helps us, you know, acquire new capabilities
that we may not have that a customer might need.
So we you know, we merged with Meracle Systems. Automis
Consulting was acquired. We just required a company called Veterans
Engineering a couple of months ago. So that expands both
our capabilities as well as our customer reach. And so
(13:12):
you know, it brings its specialized expertise like agile development,
cloud modernization, and engineering, so it complements our core services,
but it also helps us compete with some of the
larger companies around the Beltway. The other thing we differentiate
ourselves in is we have a very strong prime contract presence.
(13:34):
So what I mean by that is we lead the
work on many of our contracts rather than being a
subcontractor to other companies. So obviously we do some subcontract work,
but we are the majority of our projects our prime contracts,
and so that position, that positioning kind of boosts our visibility.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It influences decisions better.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And we get direct relationships with our federal customers and
become trusted advisors to them. Like said, we have over
eighty active contracts over thirty federal agencies spread across the government,
so it's a diverse portfolios, miss cross mission insights, and
we can tailor our solutions more effectively than some niche
(14:14):
boutique kind of firms that focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
A smaller amount of things.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And you know, just to add, like, I'm a technologist
at heart, that's how I started. So I have a
very strong focus in emerging technologies advanced technology. So we
pushed in you know, we pushed into emerging tech areas
like AI, machine learning, natural language processing, and cybersecurity. Innovations
(14:41):
like zero trust architectures and dance analytics and all of that.
So you know, I would say having a teching like
me via the helm of the company actually helps forge the.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Path in emerging technologies, right.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah. And lastly I would say, like you know, we're
we're mid tier, so I would call us next both
nimble and capable. So like unlike the large competitors we have,
we can be more agile, more responsive.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
We have a culture of innovation. We have closer client collaboration.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So agencies that want sophisticated solutions but don't want the
overhead and complexity of dealing with like a lot of overhead,
they can you know, those agencies like working with.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Us very good.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Well, listen, I don't have an opportunity all the time
when I talk to CEOs or owners of companies or
entrepreneurs when they acquire a company and what that's like.
So if you indulge me just for a second for
a listening audience and with no specificity, you acquired a company,
and I'd love to know, what are the really exciting
things about acquiring a company, But what are the things
that are also challenges when you acquire a company to
(15:45):
add onto your portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So the way we look at acquiring companies is we
look at, you know, what are the capabilities obviously that
company brings, either in terms of new customers or new
you know, technology capable abilities added to ours, right so
when so that's how we go to market. We try
to figure out what is there that we can you know,
(16:08):
that helps us in that in that area.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
So we go through a process.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
There's obviously, as you've heard about, the due diligence process,
where you look at existing contracts a company might have
and which contracts are, you know, how profitable they are,
how how the customer views that company, and so like
sometimes we end up going and talking to the customer
itself and going through that due diligence process. And then
(16:36):
there's obviously legal due diligence. There's uh, you know, due
diligence on the HR side and and so on. So
it's it's a it's a it's a long and drawn
out process, but rightly so, because you don't want to
jump into something that doesn't make sense long term, and
you don't you don't ever want to have it regrets,
right so, so so that's uh so, yeah, the challenging
(16:57):
parts are Obviously, you need to start up with making
sure that you have cultures that align. If you have
cultures between an acquired company and an acquiring company that
are misaligned, then you're always going to have problems where
people are going to feel like they're not part of
the larger company. So it's very important to have cultures
(17:18):
that aligned, and it's very important to go out of
the gate with with really good thought out strategies for
that integration. You know, and integration is not just at
the system level where you're integrating your HR systems, your
I T systems, your you know, recruiting systems and all
of that, but it's also you know, how you manage people,
(17:40):
how you manage projects, and you know, making sure that
the new company's well feels welcome, the employees feel welcome,
and uh, you know there's no us versus them kind
of mentality.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Right right, Well, thank you for all that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And you know, Royan, we have joke in this series
that when you have a successful company, it's not always
unicorns and rainbows all the time. There are some challenges
in your industry and maybe specific to what you're feeling
at artem right now, are there any current challenges and
what are they.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
So federal contracting in general is highly competitive, it's constantly changing.
You know, companies like ours compete not only with other
mid tier companies, but we also you know, compete with
the large defense contractors, the large IT intgraders that have
significantly more scale than us. So you know, it's competitive,
and so you've got to differentiate, you've got to stand out.
(18:33):
And in twenty twenty five, as everybody knows, we faced
some cuts through dose and we had a six week
government shut down.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
There was that impacted many in the industry.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
So thankfully we as a company were resilient and we
survive these and I feel like we've come out stronger
than ever.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
But you know, it's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I think twenty twenty five was a wake up here,
but I think we've adapted really well and we're hoping
that twenty twenty six will be better for the industry
in general. And like many companies in federal contracting as
well as technology, like you're, retaining skilled employees is always
a challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Maintaining a stable.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Workforce is a challenge. So you know, we put a
lot of effort into that. Having skilled professionals, especially in
IT and cybersecurity, cloud work program management. They're in high
demand across the industry, not just in autumn, but like
just across the technology industry and other contracting companies. So
making hiring, good hiring decisions, making sure that you have
(19:36):
good retention, it's a challenge for government contractors in general.
And finally, balancing growth and operational excellence. Right, we were
going to continue to grow, or that is the plan.
Our values emphasise operation excellence and accountability. But you know,
when you have rapid growth and you have expansion through acquisition,
(19:59):
you need to make sure that you continue to deliver
those high quality outcomes and still maintain the internal alignment.
So that's a classic challenge when you fast growing government
tech service company.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
So you know, focusing on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Making sure we have good strong execution and internal discipline
while we're growing is important and so we got against
that constantly.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, very good, And I think this is a great
segue because you're starting to talk about it right now,
and we always love to talk in this series about leadership.
You have hundreds and hundreds of people that you oversee
on your staff, and I can imagine what that's like
for you because you've got people that are off site
and there's not a lot of people in front of you.
I don't know how much access they get to you,
but you can talk about that as well. But when
(20:44):
it comes to your mission, your vision, and execution, Listen,
everybody's adult and you hire the best of the best,
and we realize that, but people are people. How do
you get your leadership message to all those people to
make sure you're effective? They also have access to you,
and then you're running a really tight organization where you
have a happy employee, but they're also executing the way
you want them to.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I would say I focus on setting a strong vision
for our leadership team. I'm very clear about priorities and expectations.
But then I do give my leaders the autonomy and
support they need to execute on that vision. So I
believe in open communication. I believe in data driven decision making.
I hold myself accountable for results. I hold others accountable
(21:28):
for results, you know, and I expect them to do
the same with their director reports. Equally important, I invest
in developing people and mentoring them because I feel like
long term success comes from strong teams and smart people
working collaboratively.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Together.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
That's well said, and I appreciate that. If you don't mind,
I'd love to put a pin in work just for
a second and talk to you about philanthropic and charity work.
I know you're very busy, but when you have time,
whether it's through work or with your family at home,
what do you like to be part of.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, on a personal level, I'm a small part of
multiple local Virginia based community organizations that support an organization
that does community support for the homeless. I support organization
that does support of refugee populations globally. So yeah, it's
(22:20):
it's a lot of local company local organizations that I'm
part of, my wife is a part of with me.
As a company too, like we, you know, Artumn believes
in giving back, So we run an initiative called Champions
for Change that highlights and celebrates employees who.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Volunteer in their communities.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
We are in forty over forty states in terms of
our employees, so we celebrate those employees as they volunteer.
We we have a program during National Volunteer Month we
spot you know, we encourage team members to go out
and volunteer. We spotlight them like we work with the
Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. We've participated in Operation Gratitude,
(23:01):
which is care packages for service members and first responders,
and so we do a lot of local work at
the company level, and obviously I do that on a.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Personal level too.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
That's great, Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate that. Well, listen,
I want to get some final thoughts from you. Really
enjoyed the conversation. We're going to recap we talked about.
I'd love for you to get the website. I know
people listen to the series too, So if you're hiring
the best of the best, you can talk about that
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
But row it. You've got a couple of minutes. The
floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
If you're listening and your government executive or stakeholder and
you want to have a talk about your current mission
challenges or your technology challenges that you're facing, and you
could really use a trusted advisor that helps you, you know,
become more efficient and work with fewer resources. You know,
please contact us where we're at info at autum dot com.
(23:50):
And if you're a technologist or you're an analyst or
a project manager, I want to use your innovative skills
at a company that does government projects that make a difference.
You know, go to our website and apply to us,
and so we're always hiring. I think we have last
I looked about thirty seven open positions right now. So
Autumn dot com, Artum dot com, slash join dash us,
(24:14):
so autom dot com dot join us. If you go there,
you can see our open positions and definitely apply.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Standing Rod before I let you go, I always am
in this position to thank you and your team, and
you know, I know that you're not in a position
to talk to people like me or a regular folk
on the street to know what you do and what
you do with your clients, and there's a lot of
super secret things going on where we can sleep at
night as Americans.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So I just want to thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
While I don't have a lot of knowledge about specifically
what you do, I know that you take care of
us with your clients, and we're.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Very appreciative of that.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
So thank you for you and your team and all
that you do, and we really appreciate your valuable time,
and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Thank you, Dennis.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It was a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
This was great, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports c eeos,
you should know as part of their ongoing commitment to
building strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses
within them. As a Bank for communities, M and T
believes in dedicating time, talent and resources to help local
businesses thrive because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.